Sergio Garcia Taboada is a European Solidarity Corps volunteer from Spain. Working with Reserves Project Officer Beth Harwood, he is spending two months volunteering on our wildlife reserves in the North of Scotland.

It is not easy to find on the map, but if you look closely, hidden between the mainland and the Western Isles of Scotland, you may spot a remote island that I am sure will pique your interest. Only binoculars, warm waterproof clothes, and the desire to live a great adventure are needed to head up to Handa Island – a nature reserve in the care of the Scottish Wildlife Trust. Here, I describe the volunteering experience I had there along with Eli, my fellow European Solidarity Corps volunteer and Beth, our supervisor.

We left Inverness early in the morning on August 15^th, looking forward to spending a week on Handa. After reaching Tarbet by car, driving for almost three hours across beautiful landscapes, a small red boat was waiting to take us to the island. The sailing was quite brief and finally, we arrived at Port an Eilein; a gorgeous, blue-emerald, Caribbean-like beach. But that was only the beginning of the adventure!

At the beach, the Handa team welcomed us and helped us to carry our luggage to the bothy. I had never imagined such a cosy and well-equipped settlement was possible considering the location and challenges that Handa faces. The bothy has everything you need to spend several months there, although you need to be careful with electricity consumption – hot water and electronic devices are fed only by solar energy, meaning there is no fridge and you cannot take a warm shower whenever you want.

On the first day, we headed north and crossed the Island, struggling to make out the horizon because of the dense fog. Leaving historic ruins behind, we reached a massive 100 metre high cliff range known as Puffin Bay. The views from there were very nice but cut short due to the worsening weather.

The second day was really interesting. We had to repair the boardwalk that allows visitors to cross the island. It was exhausting work, but very satisfying in the end. The best thing is that we were able to see many birds like great skuas, grouse and eagles.

Unfortunately, we had to leave on August 17^th because the weather forecast was very bad for the following days, and there was a danger the ferry wouldn’t get us back to the mainland. It was a shame because we were really enjoying our stay there. I definitely recommend visiting the island to everyone!